news from the nest - and The Shack

Well... third day after the cortisone injection and I'm not finding any relief yet. I am still only comfortable when I'm reclined and on the "heating pad" (aka electric blanket). I tried sleeping in my bed last night and after a few hours had to get up. I kept waking up with horrible muscle spasms. I'm sure it will get better. Right?

At least my crazy appetite returned to normal yesterday. I got past the munchies without causing any major damage. I did a little cooking - chicken sausage with peppers and onions and spinach over orzo. And I think eating healthy food helped me beat the cravings. I've developed an addiction to red hots... which are not that bad in and of themselves but the sugar is such an appetite trigger for me... have to steer clear.

I'm getting a little stir crazy... I may get out and about a little later today.

One thing that has me wondering... I noticed that I have four refills on my neurontin and flexeril. If the pain doctor thought the cortisone was going to work, why give me that much of those meds?

Anyways... I'm enjoying watching lots of college basketball, playing lots of farmville, frontierville and cityville and reading The Shack. I've saved a few passages that I wanted to share with you...

"We are not three gods. and we are not talking about one god with three attitudes, like a man who is a husband, father and worker. I am one God and I am three persons and each of the three is fully and entirely the One."

"You can't share with one and not share with us all. Remember that choosing to stay on the ground is a choice to facilitate a relationship. You don't play a game or color a picture with a child to show your superiority. Rather you choose to limit yourself so as to facilitate and honor that relationship. You will even lose a competition to accomplish love. It is not about winning or losing but about love and respect"

This says a lot to me about Jesus' time on earth... how although he was God incarnate, he humbled himself - just like when we participate in games with our children that are far below our ability level and intellectual capacity, we want to commune with them and relate to them. Jesus related to us in the same way.

"Relationships are never about power and one way to avoid the will to power is to choose to limit oneself - to serve."

Aren't the BEST relationships in our lives the ones that are built on mutual respect? Where there is no power struggle, no need to determine who is subject to whom? Even if possibly we might be in a higher position, based on earthly standards, aren't we more fully fulfilled when we humble ourselves?

(about the trinity) "we have no concept of final authority among us, only unity. We are in a circle of relationship, not a chain of command, or 'great chain of being' as your ancestors termed it. What you're seeing here is relationship without any overlay of power. We don't need power over the other because we are always looking after the best. Hierarchy would make no sense among us. Actually this is your problem, not ours. Humans are so lost and damaged that to you it is almost incomprehensible that people could live or work together without someone being in charge... this is one reason why experiencing true relationship is so difficult for you, once you have a hierarchy you need rules to protect and administer it, and then you need law and the enforcement of rules and you end up with some kind of chain of command or a system of order that destroys relationship rather than promotes it. You rarely see or experience relationship apart from power. Hierarchy imposes laws and rules and you end up missing the wonder of relationship that we intended for you "

I love this whole concept of relationship being a circle instead of being a chain of command. I love that we have the priviledge of entering into that circle with the trinity of God - father, son and holy spirit. But we miss that priviledge because we are so deeply programmed to have rules of order and chain of command imposed on every relationship in our life. We simply can't comprehend. This was the big deal about the temple veil being torn in two at the time of the crucifixion... the sacrifice of Jesus Christ made it possible for us to enter into the Holy of Holies. We have the priviledge of communing with God himself. Huge, huge priviledge.

"Creation has been taken down a very different path than we desired. In your world the value of the individual is constantly weighed against the survival of the system- whether political, economic, social or religious - any system actually. First one person and then a few and finally even many are sacrificed for the good and ongoing existance of that system. In one form or another this lies behind every struggle for power, every prejudice, every war and every abuse of relationship.... as the crowning glory of Creation, you were made in God's image, unencumbered by structure and free to simply 'be' in relationship with God and one another. If you had truly learned to regard each other's concerns as significant as your own, there would be no need for hierarchy."

This passage strikes a chord with me because I have such strong feelings about how many churches have become more about the organization and rules than what the organization was designed to do. We become so interested in the rules and boundaries that we forget about the PEOPLE involved in the organization.

Don't misunderstand me... there are awesome, Godly churches out there (and I think mine is among them) but there are many churches - and entire religions that have become more concerned with tradition than with spirit. And God, definitely is spirit. How can you relate something spiritual in the context of something finite and dictated? The church is designed to minister to one another, that's why we all have different spiritual gifts. Because NOBODY is given all of the spiritual gifts, there is always a need for a Godly fellowship so that you are able to fully connect with a BODY of believers.

I have always felt the presence of God more completely when I'm walking in the woods... or driving my car with the windows down, singing at the top of my lungs or praying out loud... because I'm not concerned with rules and am free to worship him in spirit and in truth. I don't have to be concerned with the rules of etiquette that we have set forth in our churches... I have the freedom that God intended for our relationship to have.

And if you go a step further and apply this to human relationships, you understand why it's so important that we respect one another and love sacrificially. If you love someone so completely that you always want what's best for them - and vice versa - then there is no need for a power struggle or for a chain of command. Everyone is doing what's best for everyone else, therefore no one loses out.

This is definitely a very deep book... it really makes you think...
I'll share more as I get further into it.
I think I'm ready for a nap... hope you have a great Saturday! Love and hugs!